Holiday Spirit
by Otaku Maiden
Summary: The holiday season is here; Gwen and Kevin realise that Ben is acting stranger than usual.


_**TITLE:**__ Holiday Spirit_

_**AUTHOR: **__Otaku Maiden_

_**SUMMARY:**__ The holiday season is here; Gwen and Kevin realise that Ben is acting stranger than usual._

_**RATING:**__ Kid-Teen. Come on...it's the holiday! :). It __should__ be somewhat family-friendly._

_**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**__ Ben and Julie are no longer a couple (sorry Benlie fans) and Kevin has his original body back. _

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ I do not own Ben 10 or Ben 10: Alien Force and its affiliating characters. (Well, that just depressed me.) They belong to Man of Action. I am simply borrowing the characters for awhile. _

**Holiday Spirit**

"Bleh! How is it I always end up with alien gunk on me?" Gwen complained as she tried to remove a fragment of sludge out of her hair.

"Consider yourself lucky that it's just gunk! I'll be sporting these bruises for weeks!" Kevin complained while holding his side. "How about you, Tennyson? Any bruises?"

"Huh? What?" The small brunet hero asked, somewhat preoccupied from glancing at the time on his cell phone. "Sorry guys, but I just realised that I'm running late, so I'll catch up with you later."

"Late for what?" Gwen asked, her curiosity being peaked.

"sorry, can't explain. Later!" Before Gwen could protest, in a flash, Ben transformed into Jet Ray and flew away.

"He's hiding something." Gwen stated, suspicious of her cousin's quick departure.

"Give him a break, Gwen." Kevin said. "It's almost Christmas and he's probably meeting his parents," with a wicked grin, he added, "or has a date with some secret girlfriend."

"If it's something with Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandra, he would have said so. Or if there is some 'mysterious girl', isn't it kind of quick after his break-up with Julie?"

"Jeez, you act more like a mom than a cousin. Besides when was the last time he spent time with his parents? Plus if I'm right and he did hook up with a new girl, he broke up with Julie three months ago, and he wants to separate the alien thing from this girl because of how dangerous it is. You know, there is such a thing called 'too much info'. Come on, I'll drive you home."

Too tired to argue with Kevin, especially with what he said making sense, Gwen released a laboured sigh and followed Kevin to his car to go home.

* * *

A few days later, Ben, Gwen and Kevin found themselves in a warehouse fighting the Forever Knights.

"Seriously, a few days before Christmas and you guys just had to cause trouble. Where's your holiday spirit? Have you no shame?" Kevin yelled as he was knocking out a few knights.

"They're villains, Kevin. A sense of scruples isn't part of their repertoire." Ben said as Big Chill, while encasing the knights in ice.

"I think that's the last of them." Gwen said as she held a few knights in a mana grip, then dumping them in empty crates.

"Finally!" Kevin exclaimed. "How about a quick stop to Mr. Smoothy before we call it a night?"

"Sorry, but I have to go." Ben said then flew away, still as Big Chill.

"Okay, somethin's up." Kevin said as Ben took off.

"What makes you say that?" Gwen asked.

"Ben just turned down a trip to Mr. Smoothy."

"Okay, now I'm really worried. Maybe we should keep a closer eye on him from now on." Gwen tried to calmly state, worried about what time of trouble Ben might be involved in.

* * *

"Okay...school is over and Ben is not here...Now I'm really worried." Gwen panicked, as she and Kevin waited at Mr. Smoothy.

"Gwen, we never made plans to meet here. Tennyson could be anywhere; maybe his soccer coach wanted to meet with the team." Kevin tried to calm Gwen.

"We're talking about Ben. He would never miss a quick run to Mr. Smoothy, even for a soccer meeting. What if he's in trouble? Or some bounty hunter is after him for the omnitrix?"

"Speaking of the omnitrix, why haven't we tried tracking Ben by the omnitrix signal with our Plumbers' badges?" Kevin asked, as the thought hit him.

Gwen smacked her hand to her forehead. "Why didn't we think of that sooner?' She thought. If anything horrible happened to Ben, Gwen thought she could never forgive herself.

"Mother of Mercy Church? Are you sure that Ben is here?" Gwen asked.

"Actually, according to my Plumbers' badge, Ben's in the next building." Kevin answered, keeping his eyes on the blinking light on his badge. "Let's go. Hopefully Ben isn't in trouble." Kevin said as he climbed out of the car, heading towards the two story building next to the church. Gwen soon followed, hoping that her cousin was alright.

* * *

"What is this place?" Gwen whispered, as they entered the building.

"Welcome to Haven House." A short dark-haired woman greeted them. "How may I help you?"

"Ummm, we're looking for a friend of ours." Kevin said. "Short boy, brown hair with green eyes..."

"Oh! You must mean Ben!" The woman answered. "He's currently assisting in the kitchen," glancing at Gwen, the woman continued. "Are you his sister?"

"Actually, I'm his cousin Gwen, and this is our friend Kevin."

"I am Reverend Isha Zuberi. Any friends of Ben's are more than welcomed here at Haven House. Speaking of Ben, the kitchen is down the hall to your right, last door to your left."

"Thank you." Gwen said as she and Kevin started walking down the hall. As they reached the end of the hall, they heard a familiar voice.

"Hmm, maybe you should add a little paprika and thyme to add some kick to the stew Sheree."

"Tennyson?" Kevin called out, seeing Ben by the stove with a young brunette girl.

"Gwen? Kevin? What are you doing here?"

"This seems like an awkward moment...why don't you talk with your friends while I finish cooking?" Sheree said to Ben.

"Thanks, Sheree." Ben said, then steered Kevin and Gwen out of the Kitchen to an empty office across the hall.

"Ben, what is going on? What is this place?" Gwen asked.

"Haven House is a Women's Shelter affiliated with the Mother of Mercy Church." Ben answered. "I've been volunteering here since I was twelve years old by helping with the hotline organising holiday parties and other activities for the kids." Gwen gave a small gasp, hearing how long her cousin has been helping at a women's shelter.

"Why didn't you tell us? Do you have any idea the crazy conspiracy theories we were thinking – thinking you might be in danger?" Stated Kevin, irritation and worry laced in his voice.

"I'm sorry." Ben down-casted his eyes to the floor. "With all the alien fighting, I just wanted to go back to helping real people – you know; no powers – just helping the women and children at the shelter get their lives back together." Ben's eyes refocused to his cousin and best friend. "We spend so much time fighting on an intergalactic level, that it feels like the people here just get slipped between the cracks."

"Aww, Ben!" Cooed Gwen, hugging Ben tightly. "I'm so proud of you for wanting to help people like this!"

"What can we do?"

"Huh?" Ben and Gwen said in unison, looking at the pensive look on Kevin's face.

"I mean, what can Gwen and I do to help?" Kevin asked.

"You want to help?" Gwen asked.

"Well, yeah." Kevin answered. "You heard Tennyson; this place sounds like it could use all the extra hands they can get. And..."Kevin continued, "I know that look you have, Gwen. You want to stay and help too."

"Am I hearing right?" Reverend Isha said with a warm smile, starling the young heroes. "Are your friends staying to help, Ben?"

"Yeah...yeah, they are." Ben smiled.

"Usually, we have a screening process for volunteers, but seeing you are friends of Ben's," Reverend Isha said, "I'll make an exception this time, we could always use extra help during the holidays. What are your strengths?"

"Kevin's good at anything mechanical and Gwen is highly intelligent." Ben answered.

"Hmmm..." Reverend Isha thought. "Gwen could help in the activity room where the kids are doing homework and craft projects. And Kevin could help Jamal fix the van in the garage."

Together, the young heroes replied, "Okay."

* * *

A few hours later, after helping in the shelter and joining the residents for dinner, Ben, Gwen and Kevin found themselves heading towards Kevin's car, ready to go home.

"Ben, I said this before and I have to say it again; I'm really proud of you for spending so much of your free time helping at the women's shelter." Gwen said as she climbed into the back seat. With the generosity that Ben showed, she thought that he should have the honour riding shotgun.

"Yeah, Tennyson." Kevin said, ruffling Ben's hair. "But next time you worry us like that, we get a free pass to knock ya upside the head." Kevin's eyes narrowed, still with humour, before climbing into the driver's seat.

"I know and I'm sorry for making you guys worry. I promise it will never happen again." Ben said as he climbed into the passenger seat. "Well, now that you know about Haven House, maybe you can come again some other day."

"How about this, instead?" Gwen leaned forward towards the front seats of the car. "whenever we're not patrolling, we spend time volunteering at the shelter?"

"I'd like that." Ben said with a smile.

_This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction. Something just compelled me to write this story. If it sucks or sounds too preachy, sorry. I hope to build on my writing skills as time goes progresses. I was trying to upload this story before Christmas but I had some "technical difficulties". At least it finally worked :)_

_***_

_Have a cheerful holiday and have a great New Year!_


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